
Today is my last day at Gartner.
Today is my last day at Gartner. The last 5 1/2 years have flown by. I have learnt more than I imagined I could, and probably forgotten more too. I’ve done over 3000 inquiries, written over 100 research notes, led several magic quadrants, attended 100s of Research communities, spoke at numerous conferences and strategy days. […]

The SAP Business Suite and HANA
Most folks using procurement technology would rather not get into the underlying bits and bytes of technology architecture, let alone the nuances of database technology. For the most part this makes sense, though we’d argue that for systems integration, a lot of incremental business value in the P2P and services procurement areas can be derived […]

SAP cloudwashes its image
Watching the playoffs this weekend, I chuckled when I saw SAP is the NFL’s Official Cloud Software Solutions provider. Not sure how much it cost SAP but they are clearly eager to be considered “cloudy”. Since the revenues show a tiny cloud profile (prelim 2012 results show cloud revenues at EU 270 m in IFRS, […]

Enterprise Software the secular trends
This time of the year, many folks like to look at the year back or the year forward. This old fart has been in and around enterprise software for three decades so I like to take a somewhat longer look into the past and the future. Here are five of the many trend lines I […]

2012 Was Workday’s Year; Who Will Own 2013 In HR Technology?
And the winner is? [Shout-out to my colleague Lisa Rowan at IDC. Her recent guest post was the impetus for my finishing this post, which I had started right after Workday went public on 10-12-2012.] 1987: Bloom & Wallace and PeopleSoft Founded 1987 was a big year in the history of HR technology. That’s the […]

The life and times of HR application software (2012 in review)
Major Themes 2012 was an interesting one for Human Resources software. From Talent Management, Payroll, Analytics, HRMS and other niche HR solutions, there were a number of cool innovations, emerging trends and a lot of M&A with a side order of an IPO. Let’s review the big themes: You couldn’t swing a dead cat at […]

An enterprise-wide vision for social business: SAP’s new take
Earlier today software giant SAP unveiled their latest vision for enterprise social software, along with an integrated set of functional offerings that focus on delivering targeted business value. Is it enough?

Enterprise Headlines and Highlights, 2012-07-15
Highlights of enterprise software and solutions news from the past week: SAP posts strong results in a preview of Q2, but warn employees to cut spending so that profitability will stop rising slower than revenues. Microsoft announces Bing Fund to invest in start-ups, while cutting many jobs in their on-line business driven by Bing. Oracle’s […]

Trash talk and FUD harms the Cloud industry
Over here we are anticipating this year’s Cloud Computing World Forumin London, but over in the US Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and CEO since 1977, has pivoted his position on the Cloud along with “crossing a line” to trash key competitors. Elsewhere old guard software giants like IBM are mis-communicating the Cloud messages. How does […]

SAP Energizes Its Cloud Strategy – The Lars Dalgaard Era Begins
One of the most amazing cross-country flights I ever took found me over the center of the country at night, flying through an unbelievable electric storm, with an almost constant arcing of lightning illuminating vast canyons and mountains of clouds. As the pilot maneuvered us through this unforgettable vision of nature’s wonder, he came on […]